Wild Medicinal Species Traded in the Balsas Basin, Mexico: Risk Analysis and Recommendations for Their Conservation

Abstract

The Balsas River Basin (BRB) area is the major source of wild medicinal plants commercially sold in Mexico; thus, the region is important in the conservation of these high-demand resources. We studied wild medicinal plant species extracted from the BRB to document the species richness of traded plants and analyze the commercialization dynamics and socioecological vulnerability. We constructed a database of the medicinal plant species traded in the BRB and we developed a risk index from 14 different ethnobotanical, socioeconomic, and ecological variables to assess the vulnerability of each species. The medicinal flora that are traded in the BRB include 257 species, 176 genera, and 83 families. The use of 91% of these species is unregulated by the government. Tropical deciduous forests contribute the greatest number of taxa (38.5%) and herbs are the most harvested plants (45.9%). Less than 5% of these species are protected by national and international regulations. The highest-risk category primarily consists of tree species with the greatest number of uses and plant structures harvested and sold in the largest number of local and regional markets. Due to high commercial demand in the BRB, intensive harvesting is not compatible with conservation. Therefore, public policies that regulate trade and local practices to protect and preserve medicinal plant species must be developed. These policies should maintain people's livelihoods, especially in regions with high marginalization but great biological and cultural richness, such as the BRB.

How does urbanization affect perceptions and traditional knowledge of medicinal plants?

“…TDF is the dominant vegetation type providing medicinal plants to the Sonora Market (Mercado de Sonora) in Mexico City, which is one of the most important markets for medicinal plants in Latin America 54 . Thus, TDF is of great environmental, social, and economic importance in the conservation of these resources 28,55,56,57 .…”

“…The processes that deteriorate biocultural heritage are notorious in Mexico, one of the ve most diverse countries worldwide 27 , and where about 6,000 species of medicinal plants are used, of which at least 4,000 are collected from forests and jungles 28 . Despite this grand biocultural legacy, which is the result of thousands of years of interaction between diverse cultures and their environments 29 , there are currently challenges that urgently need to be met.…”

Consequences of Traditional Management in the Production and Quality of Copal Resin (Bursera bipinnata (Moc. & Sessé ex DC.) Engl.) in Mexico

“…Different studies have documented examples of how silvicultural management operates and may involve domestication processes [8,11,[15][16][17], but most of them have focused on edible species. Research on the management of medicinal, ornamental, and ritual species is still limited, even though these use categories often appear the most in ethnobotanical reports in Mexico [13,18,19].…”

Consequences of traditional management in the production and quality of copal resin (Bursera bipinnata (Moc. & Sessé ex DC.) Engl.) in Mexico

“…Different studies have documented examples of how silvicultural management operates and may involve domestication processes [8,11,[15][16][17], but most of them have focused on edible species. Research on management of medicinal, ornamental, and ritual species is still limited, even though these use categories are often the greatest number in ethnobotanical reports in Mexico [13,18,19].…”